To be honest as I approach 65 I ponder that about many things!

 
CrossCountry's publicity mentions "Improved bike spaces" but this appears to comprise just adding wheel channels to the same terrible hanging spaces. I think 3/10 is possibly generous.

 

Both Stagecoach and Go Ahead have life long bus people in the key management roles in the Southwest. Both are growing whilst First are contracting.
Stagecoach southwest have just posted their 24/25 accounts on companies house with roughly a £1.5m post tax profit.
Stagecoach Plymouth depot has gone from a PVR of 60 at the start of 2025 to a current PVR now around 120. PVR= peak vehicle requirement

 

In Plymouth awaiting passengers point at the bus they want. Seems to work well. That also make clear when they don’t want your bus with a shake of head.

Educating people waiting in the dark is key, if you’re wearing dark clothes we can’t see you. Light up your phone screen and wave it for the driver to see lit up. Makes a massive difference

 
011 due to leave Liskeard as 5Z15 at 1945 using an existing path showing cancelled at the moment. It wasn't going to be sent via Penzance.

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:V75376/2026-02-12/detailed

 
Explaining the basics of using a city's public transport system was (patchily) somewhat in fashion quite recently. 7pm on a very warm holiday weekend summer's evening, glorious skies (and a lot of cheerful people about) I recall leaving Wolverhampton railway station and heading for the fairly new and extensive bus station and thinking 'This is built for locals who know where they're going. At the entrance, this building and its services needs a guide for first-time visitors. A destinations map and the basics on ticket purchase pls and thq'.**

(My destination being an Irish mile across the city centre, I worked out that by the time I'd worked out what buses served it I'd have walked, and I did.)

Mark

**This was before the smartphone era - though on that count I defy anyone provided only with the FirstBus app to make sense of the likes of Bath bus station - which is another that doesn't exactly shine on the visitor information front.

 
After all that, what an anti-climax!
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:V75372/2026-02-12/detailed

All sorted out in situ (by someone who knows about these things, apparently) and then scoot back to Plymouth in half an hour. Its buddy 011 was meant to follow an hour later (5Z15), but for some reason ... now what's happened there?

 
Geoff Marshall has just released a YouTube vlog on the refurbished Class 220s.

 
I often ponder how I've got this far in life without ever having received training in how to hail a bus......

 
Just as in Nuneham Viaduct days, Cotswold Line trains magically become more reliable when they don't have to run south of Oxford… 

 

If look at a photo, also appears the reading lights overhead, and the seat reserved indicators don't line up either.

My guess is seats have been moved, but no one bothered to alter the above window figments that apply to each pair of seats.  Sort of 3/10 score, looks nice, but basic errors and mistakes.

 
TBH 500 yards can in itself be an issue for anyone, not because people cannot walk 500 yards but because it introduces friction into what's meant to be a journey by bus. And then of course, for good measure, a few hundred of those yards facing the Cornish weather on that exposed coast. I hear Graham's point about bus routes sometimes needing to be changed, but when they're changed for reasons of traffic congestion, or in this case because the operator doesn't have suitable vehicles, that should ring alarm bells. The frequency's fallen too, is this route that ran every 20 minutes now stretched to every 30 minutes? That changes a service that was almost turn up and go to something rather less attractive.

Mark

 
Has there really been nothing to report since 24 January? Anyway, from earlier today:

 
I was just looking at old maps of the Melksham area, fascinating

 

Close....the trolley operator will get crushed knuckles if they aren't careful when passing down the train. The trolley fits however, just the knuckles that lack clearance.

 
More Irish OS maps can be found on the Ordnance Survey of Ireland (Tailte Eireann) website at:

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/d5bdc7daef3e4537b67caa31dfcc42d5

Although this version might be easier:

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/bdc13f643b68486c99e23abdaed0a98e

The National Library of Ireland brings you to the same place. As a copyright library they should a full set of mapping but presumably don't see any point in duplicating the digital offering.

 
Reopening on “16th February at the earliest” turns out to mean February 12th for the Okehampton line - the 09:25 from Okehampton being the first passenger train to run out of the town since the storm-enforced closure.

Just (!) the Barnstaple and Looe branches to get reopened now….

 
Having had a measured read of the article the thing that struck me most was that none of the "4 man" tables in First Class seem to line up with the windows.  Extra charge for a proper window seat ?

 
The real trick comes when two buses on different routes approach a stop and the second one is intent on overtaking the first...

 
Yesterday I read an article on another railway forum which suggested that the lovely new grab handles will actually prevent the refreshment trolleys being moved along the train! Fake news?

 
For those of us less mobile than we used to be, busses not serving the harbour is a massive problem.
Yes, the walk is 'only' around 500 or so yards, but it's very steep; encounter traffic each way. and will be soaking wet when it rains.
Three Sprinter 'vans' currently used by First will be replaced by a half hourly decker service, which will turn just pass the Old Coastguard Hotel.
That turn is tight, and can be problematic with traffic and pedestrian flow, especially when summer traffic comes in.

 
in addition to the benefit deductions he should be spending his every waking hour - I somehow doubt he is gainfully employed - engaged in unpaid 'Community Reparations' (e.g. litter picking, grafitti removal) with supervision if necessary.

 
A few WhatsApp groups when I was working for First bus.
One group set up by First (never used it personally); the other with Park & Ride drivers only.
We did have a local drivers only Faceache group, which slowly spread to encompass the County, but that faded out after a few years.
We have a family WhatsApp group, and an immediate family group.

 
The National Library of Scotland has put a set of 6" maps of the island of Ireland online. These are early, mind...

Mark

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=7.8&lat=53.24152&lon=-8.31153&layers=257&b=GoogleSat&o=100

 
Dilton Marsh made me think. There should probably be an entirely different thread on the subject of how to hail a bus, as this is often  another training issue (for the passenger) though bus companies could also help by ensuring that buses listed as stopping at a particular stop actually do call there - or having sufficient capacity that intending passengers don't experience full and standing services sailing past stops.

Often, for the driver, intending passengers seem to think that they're bidding in an auction - perhaps a slight touch of the nose - a small twitch of some possession in their hands - a head movement and blink.

The opposite being the over-gesticulation - a dash to the kerb edge, wild hand raising, both arms forward with shopping in both hands.

The former means that the driver needs to be clairvoyant. The latter means that that it's difficult for them to make the most of the interface between bus and kerb.

This could be addressed via dance and drama in schools if there is still such a thing as there's a tie-in with the basic art of expressing yourself appropriately using movement. It's non-verbal communication at a distance. In this case with the driver of a bus (or train) and it's a skill that's on a scale from being useful to being a lifesaver.

Mark

 
Apologies.
Re read before posting.
There are two or three managers in Cornwall who could run the outfit profitably.
They've never been promoted to any senior posts - it would be dangerous to have a senior manager who knew the business inside out!

 
He's done very well out of his crimes, hasn't he? Hardly a deterrent to others.

 
i read in a media report that he (us) will pay £20 a month..